The Vegas Golden Knights are headed to the Stanley Cup Final for the third time in their nine-year history after sweeping the President’s Trophy-winning Colorado Avalanche with a 2-1 victory Tuesday night at T-Mobile Arena.
Colorado, playing for its playoff life, turned to Mackenzie Blackwood in goal. He was solid throughout the night, but Vegas’ defense was stifling, Carter Hart matched him save for save, and the Golden Knights advanced with a composed performance.
Vegas opened the scoring at 4:52 of the first period. Mark Stone slipped behind the Colorado defense, Brayden McNabb found him with a rink-wide pass, and the Knights captain buried the shot past Blackwood for a 1-0 lead.
The Golden Knights had several chances to extend the lead through the rest of the first period and into the second, but Blackwood kept Colorado in the game with save after save. Vegas finally broke through again at 14:15 of the third period, when Cole Smith redirected a Dylan Coghlan shot from inside the blue line past Blackwood to make it 2-0.
In desperation mode, Colorado pushed back and cut the lead in half. Gabriel Landeskog deflected in a Martin Nečas shot at 17:57 to give the Avalanche life, but they could not find the equalizer before time expired. Vegas held on for the 2-1 victory.
The Golden Knights now await the winner of the Canadiens-Hurricanes Eastern Conference Final.
